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Density of an Environmental Weed Predicts the Occurrence of the King

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Density of an Environmental Weed Predicts the Occurrence of the King Volume 23 (July 2013), 161–165 FULL PAPER Herpetological Journal Published by the British Density of an environmental weed predicts the Herpetological Society occurrence of the king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) in central Australia Peter J. McDonald1, 2 & Gary W. Luck3 1Flora and Fauna Division, Department of Land Resource Management, Northern Territory Government, Alice Springs, NT, Australia, 2School of Environmental Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia, 3Institude for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia The king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) is a large and highly venomous elapid, which occurs throughout much of mainland Australia. Although an ecological generalist, anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals in the arid-zone are more frequently observed in proximity to dense grass cover. We tested the hypothesis that P. australis are more likely to be located close to dense grass cover in an arid region near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. We focused on the environmental weed buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.) because this species comprises the highest density of cover in the region. Under an Information- Theoretic framework we used logistic regression to model the occurrence of P. australis against a range of habitat variables expected to influence the snakes distribution and abundance. There was substantial support for our hypothesis with the model including only the variable buffel grass as the best ranked model predicting P. australis presence. The probability of recording P. australis in a location increased with the density of buffel grass cover. Eradicating or reducing buffel grass in and around built-up areas may reduce the risk of interactions between humans or domestic animals and P. australis. Key words: elapid, habitat, snake, venomous INTRODUCTION The highly invasive species readily out-competes native vegetation, frequently forming dense swathes where he king brown or mulga snake (Pseudechis australis) is native vegetation had previously been sparse or only Ta large (SVL up to 2.3 metres), heavily-built and highly seasonally dense (e.g., rainfall-triggered growth of native venomous elapid (Elapidae) distributed throughout tussock grasses and forbs) (Clarke et al., 2005; Miller et much of mainland Australia (Shine, 1987; Wilson & Swan, al., 2010; Fig. 1). Although buffel grass tends to favour 2010; Fig. 1). It is regarded as an ecological generalist; and more readily colonize ‘run-on’ landforms (e.g., occurring in habitats ranging from tropical woodlands in floodplains), it is increasingly adapting to and spreading the northern parts of its range to arid spinifex deserts in less productive areas (Smyth et al., 2009; Miller et al., in the south and feeding on a variety of terrestrial 2010). vertebrate prey (Shine, 1987; Wilson & Swan, 2010). Given the continuing spread of buffel grass throughout Although considered as a habitat generalist, anecdotal arid Australia, the propensity for it to form dense stands, evidence suggests that arid-dwelling P. australis are more and the possible association between P. australis frequently observed in proximity to dense grasslands, occurrence and grass density, we suggest that buffel grass particularly when these grasslands occur in riparian may be an important environmental factor influencing habitats (Orange, 2009; PM pers. obs.). the distribution and abundance of the snake species. Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris - nomenclature Our hypothesis is that the probability of occurrence according to Albrecht et al., 1997) is an exotic perennial of P. australis will increase with increasing buffel grass tussock grass (originally from Africa and south-west density. Such an association has substantial implications Asia) deliberately established throughout Australia’s for the safety of humans and domestic animals in arid arid zone as pasture for cattle and as a soil stabilizer regions, given that P. australis is a highly venomous and (Smyth et al., 2009). Since its introduction in the late dangerous species (Currie, 2004). Hence, the way buffel 1800s, the grass has spread throughout the northern grass is managed may have major implications for the and central regions of arid Australia and is now regarded outcomes of human-snake and domestic animal-snake as a serious environmental weed (Eyre et al., 2009). interactions Correspondence: Peter McDonald ([email protected]) 161 P.J. McDonald & G.W. Luck MATERIALS AND METHODS set of models considered) of variation in the response variable. Using information from the literature and our Our study was conducted in the MacDonnell Ranges own field observations, we developed a set of models bioregion which covers 39,300 km2 of upland in the to explain the occurrence of P. australis that included southern Northern Territory (NT), Australia (see variables with the potential to influence the distribution McDonald et al., 2012 for a description of the landforms or abundance of the species (see Table 1 for justification and land-uses of the area). We used systematic road- for variable inclusion). Relevant variables were recorded cruising (Rosen & Lowe, 1994) to sample P. australis within a 50 m radius around each location where a along a 77 km sealed road transect which included snake was encountered and a single proximity variable part of Namatjira Drive (23°48’33”S, 133°13’16”E to (distance to major drainage) was also recorded (Table 1). 23°40’1”S, 132°38’8”E) and all of the Ormiston Gorge All variables were also recorded at 50 randomly selected access road (23°41’5”S, 132°42’34”E to 23°37’57”S, locations where the snake species was absent along the 132°43’39”E) west of the town Alice Springs (Fig. 1). This road transect. The randomly selected locations were a transect runs through a range of habitat types typical minimum of 500 m from the nearest P. australis presence of the bioregion (see McDonald et al. 2012 for a map location and can be referred to as ‘pseudo absences’ illustrating the typical mosaic of vegetation communities (Milne et al., 2005). that occurs along the road transect), including areas with We initially tested for collinearity among the varying levels of buffel grass infestation. One of us (PM) independent (predictor) variables using the Spearman drove this transect on 77 nights over a 12 month period correlation coefficient. Because no pair of variables between August 2009 and July 2010. Each night the exhibited a correlation coefficient of greater than 0.6, no transect was driven twice (two laps) at a speed of 40–60 variable was removed from further analysis (McDonald km/hr, with the transect start point alternated between et al., 2012). We further checked for multi-collinearity the east and west ends. The location of all P. australis among the independent variables by regressing each individuals encountered was marked with a hand held independent variable against all the others using linear GPS. All live animals were caught, individually marked regression and examining the values of the variance by scale clipping (Brown & Parker, 1976) and released on inflation factors. In these analyses, all variance inflation the road verge adjacent to the point of capture. Road-kill factor values were less than 2 indicating very low levels animals were removed from the road surface. of multi collinearity (see Zuur et al., 2010). In order to test whether there was an association All variables were modelled using binary logistic between buffel grass density and P. australis occurrence regression, with presence (1) or absence (0) as the in our study area, we modelled data under an dependent variable. We also modelled combinations of Information-Theoretic framework (Burnham et al., 2011). independent variables where these combinations made This involved developing a set of a priori hypotheses biological sense (e.g., RIPAR_50 + MAJDRAIN_DIST). (models) to explain variation in the response variable Models were ranked using Akaike’s Information Criterion (snake presence/absence) based on consideration of corrected for small sample size (AICc). This is appropriate existing knowledge from the literature and/or field when the number of data points/maximum number of experience (Burnham et al., 2011). Models were then fitted parameters is less than 40 (Symonds & Moussalli, compared to identify the best explanation (among the 2011). Models with smaller values of AICc have greater Table 1. Habitat variables recorded at presence and pseudo-absence locations for Pseudechis australis Variable Description Method of data Biological knowledge of P. australis collection MAJDRAIN_DIST Distance (m)to nearest major Google Earth1 Encountered more frequently in close proximity drainage line, identified by presence to alluvial systems (floodplains, rivers, creeks)a, b of River Red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) RIPAR_50 % area of riparian woodland/ Field survey2 Encountered more frequently in close proximity grassland within a 50 m radius of to alluvial systems (floodplains, rivers, creeks)a, b sample site BUFF_COVER % area of Cenchrus ciliaris cover Field survey2 Encountered more frequently in close proximity within a 50 m radius of sample site to dense grasslandb TUSSCK_COVER % area of native soft grass (e.g. Field survey2 Encountered more frequently in close proximity Aristida pp.) cover within a 50 m to dense grasslandb radius of sample site HUMCK_COVER % area of native hummock grass Field survey2 Encountered more frequently in close proximity (Triodia spp.)cover within
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